The Fall of Rome: Lessons to Learn

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The Fall of Rome: Lessons to Learn Name Class Date Historians and scholars often disagree about what caused the fall of Rome. Upon analyzing the evidence, one can conclude that it was not one catastrophic event that caused the undoing of the Empire. It was a slow decline over the course of many years accelerated after the death of Marcus Aurelius A.D 180 and had many factors involved(Roman Empire). These different factors include economic woes, the influx of foreign immigrants/barbarians which led to perpetual warfare, the failure of government and its “elitist” or autocratic tendencies, and the general apathetic attitudes of the populace who had lost confidence in themselves and the state refused to take responsibility. One can draw parallels between these factors and the American society today and we should learn from the history of Rome so as not to follow the same path. The first factor that I find extremely important is the economic factor. One can draw many parallels between the Empire of Rome and our economic woes that we are feeling today. During Rome’s decline, the military was overstretched and underfunded. Emperors overtaxed the population and overregulated the market place and would often purposely debase their currency by reducing the precious metal content. This in turn led to disastrous inflation(Perry 2013). One needs to look no further than our own Federal Reserve System and its fiat currency to see the similarities. Politicians essentially have a blank check and can spend and print as much money as they want. This influx of cheap money devalues our currency and causes inflation. Food and gas prices are getting higher and higher every year. And just as in Rome, more and more people are relying on the state for survival. Cheap or free food is provided by our tax dollars.
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